Gleni said:Why is upright foliage a flaw, Polymerous? I think leaves erect and saltant quite pleasing.
That was what I was taught at a garden judges' workshop years ago, and I agree with the sentiment. Daylily foliage is supposed to gracefully arch, not stand starkly upright. And when it arches, it should gracefully arch, not kink.
(...pleased with myself for finally figuring out how that quote box thing works...) 
Of the images shown, 'Parade of Peacocks' is not that bad; the foliage - all of it - does actually arch over, although it grows tall first. 'Jedi Brenda Spann', on the other hand, still has the center leaves sticking straight up, and one leaf frankly kinks; the plant looks like it is having a bad hair day.
Glen's question made me go out and look at the daylily foliage here for uprightness. A surprising (and dismaying) number of plants were having bad hair days, some plants being worse than others. Among the worst ones (for my taste) were 'Arctic Lace' and 'Victorian Lace'.
Getting back to foliage shapes, I was looking at some of my "selected" seedlings (on the patio) the other day, and I realized that most of them were "G" shaped, but I think there was at least one "C" shape. Of course all of these seedlings (kept for a 2nd, 3rd look or because I just liked them) were chosen primarily on the basis of the blooms (looks, opening ability) and health of the foliage.
Then today, while I was off in the side yard to look at 'Victorian Lace' (whose foliage I knew I didn't like), I also went to look at three other seedlings (two of them, I believe, have 'Hip to Be Square' in the background; the third might, but I'm not sure (very long story there on these seedlings)). Two of the plants had nice (but lowly arching) "G" type foliage; the third also was "G" type, but it was somewhat upright as opposed to the other two. It is funny that the foliage on that hadn't fully struck me before (despite images clearly pointing out the uprightness), but I'm keeping it because of the flower traits, and have recently started a few seeds from it crossed with the other two. (Maybe the crosses will improve the foliage? Though I seem to recall reading somewhere that some hybridizer felt that bad foliage was dominant.
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All of this goes to show, I think, that too often we pay too much attention to the flowers, and not enough to the foliage.
Thanks for starting this interesting and thought-provoking thread, Becky!
